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Dubai: A salesman has been jailed for one year for molesting and abusing a 10-year-old schoolboy and trying to buy his silence on the matter.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the salesman, A.A, 21, an Indian national, of sexually molesting and abusing the boy and threatening to harm him if he told anyone about what had happened.

The accused, who entered a not guilty plea, will be deported following the completion of his punishment.

The court further cleared a 42-year-old Indian driver, N.A, and his 40-year-old countryman, M.H, a barber, of similar charges. The three men allegedly abused the boy over a period of three days in a villa under construction.

According to the primary judegment, N.A. and M.H. were acquitted for lack of corroborated evidence.

Meanwhile, A.A’s lawyer asked the court to acquit his client or show leniency to him in view of his young age.

The victim claimed that the defendants used to approach him on the street as he waited for a bus that took him to a centre where he studied religion.

“A.A. molested me once and paid me 50 fils to keep my mouth shut. A day before that he forced me into a deserted villa and abused me. He paid me Dh20 to remain silent. N.A. and M.H. molested me individually on different occasions and they each paid me Dh10 not to tell anyone what happened,” the boy told prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the salesman abused the fact that M.M. was alone when waiting for the bus. The driver and the barber were also accused of abusing the boy on different occasions.

The boy’s father testified that his son’s teacher informed him over the phone that he hadn’t attended his lessons at the centre for three days in a row. “When I searched for him, I found him behind a supermarket. He claimed to me that he was walking in the neighborhood. He claimed to me that the suspects gave him money. He alleged that they lured him to the villa and paid him money to offer them indecent services,” the father said.

A Sudanese policeman testified that the boy was crying and scared when he identified the suspects, who denied his claims.

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